World News Roundup: China's Xi in Russia to meet Putin over Ukraine war; Macron's government faces 'moment of truth' over pension system overhaul and more

Supporters of Khan's party, clashed with police in the city of Lahore last week as they attempted to arrest him at his home, and later with police in Islamabad as he arrived to appear before a court on Saturday. Netanyahu softens judicial overhaul after Biden call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a softening on Monday of his hard-right government's judicial overhaul plan, an apparent bid to calm more than two months of nationwide protests and misgivings voiced by Western allies.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

China's Xi in Russia to meet Putin over Ukraine war

Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Moscow on Monday where he was expected to press Beijing's role as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war while Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped for support against Western pressure. Xi will be the first national leader to shake Putin's hand since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since his all-out invasion.

Macron's government faces 'moment of truth' over pension system overhaul

President Emmanuel Macron's government faces two motions of no confidence in the National Assembly on Monday after it bypassed the lower house to push through a deeply unpopular overhaul of the pension system that will raise the retirement age. Violent unrest has erupted in several cities including the capital, Paris, and trade unions have promised to intensify their strike movement, leaving Macron to face the most dangerous challenge to his authority since the "Yellow Vest" revolt.

Russia defies Putin arrest warrant by opening its own case against ICC

Russia's top investigative body said on Monday it had opened a criminal case against the International Criminal Court prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges. The move was a symbolic gesture of defiance, three days after the ICC accused Putin and his children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.

Iran violations may amount to crimes against humanity -UN expert

Iran's authorities have committed violations in recent months that may amount to crimes against humanity, a U.N.-appointed expert told the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing cases of murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, sexual violence and persecution. Iran has been swept by protests since the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody last September.

Singapore to tighten shoe recycling controls after Reuters report

A Singapore shoe recycling project will be subject to surprise inspections following a Reuters investigation that found footwear it donated to the scheme was not recycled, Singapore's minister of culture said on Monday. U.S. petrochemicals giant Dow Inc and Sport Singapore, a government agency, had pledged that the shoes would be ground down to make playgrounds and running tracks.

North Korea's use of missile silo could mean less warning of launches -analysts

North Korea's presumed use of a silo in its latest missile test was aimed at boosting the speed and reliability of launches, and could be used in future flights of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), analysts said on Monday. State media called Sunday's launch of the solid-fuelled KN-23, a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), the latest in the isolated country's recent series of missile tests, an element of drills simulating a nuclear counterattack against the U.S. and South Korea.

Eighty years on, Thessaloniki Holocaust survivor recalls cart of trampled bodies

Eighty-four-year-old Rina Revah was nearly four when she was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany with her parents in 1943. She would spend the next two years of her childhood there and witness events that would stay with her forever. "I never had a toy, I never had a doll," Revah said from her home in Thessaloniki, where a thriving Jewish Community once existed for centuries before the second world war.

Pakistan police arrest dozens of Imran Khan supporters

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked the chief justice of Pakistan to allow him to appear for court proceedings virtually to reduce the risk of any threat to his life, he said in a video message on Monday, as his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party prepared for a rally in Lahore on Wednesday. Supporters of Khan's party, clashed with police in the city of Lahore last week as they attempted to arrest him at his home, and later with police in Islamabad as he arrived to appear before a court on Saturday.

Netanyahu softens judicial overhaul after Biden call

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a softening on Monday of his hard-right government's judicial overhaul plan, an apparent bid to calm more than two months of nationwide protests and misgivings voiced by Western allies. The announcement followed a call on Netanyahu by U.S. President Joe Biden to seek compromise and consensus in the constitutional crisis. But it was scorned by the centre-left political opposition and stepped-up demonstrations loomed.

At graveyard of unknown quake victims, Syrians seek news of the missing

The simple gravestone of a girl killed in last month's earthquake in Syria bears no name, but notes she was wearing a green sweater at the time of her burial, a description left in the hope it may help someone identify her. The bodies of up to 70 unidentified people have been buried in the cemetery in the northern Syrian town of Jandaris since the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake

(With inputs from agencies.)